Unsafe at Any Speed

Unsafe at Any Speed, investigative report on U.S. automobile safety published in 1965 by consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who was then a 31-year-old attorney. Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-in Dangers of the American Automobile excoriated the American automotive industry, based in Detroit, for its prioritization of style and design over consumer safety. Nader’s book eventually became a best seller and helped spur the passage of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act in 1966, the country’s first significant automobile safety legislation.

Nader had been interested in issues of consumer safety since he was a law school student at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Law Record. While editor, he published an article titled “American Cars: Designed for Death,” the first of several articles Nader wrote on the subject. He subsequently published articles in The Nation and Personal Injury Annual that called attention to automakers’ deliberate choice of making style a priority over safety.

At the time, the rising death toll from traffic accidents was also driving leaders in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere in government to look at the issue of automobile safety. For years, driver error had been the sole focus in the investigation of traffic accidents. Nader and others suggested, however, that the cars themselves might be to blame in many cases. Nader’s interest in the cause attracted the attention of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then assistant secretary of labor, who hired Nader as staff consultant for highway safety. Nader’s assignment was to research and write a report on this issue for a Congressional audience.

Unsafe at Any Speed was the result of this assignment. In his book, Nader attacked the entire Detroit auto industry, but General Motors (GM) and its Chevrolet Corvair model came under particular fire. The Corvair had been a focus of controversy in the courts since 1961, when a woman who lost an arm after her Corvair flipped over sued GM for selling cars with unsafe steering designs. The case was settled out of court, but other similar cases followed. In fact, by 1967 about 150 lawsuits had been filed against GM in connection with claims regarding its Corvair. Many of these were also settled out of court, but GM won several judgments in cases that actually went to trial. Nader also noted problems with other automobiles such as the Buick Roadmaster and the Ford Mustang. He described features such as steering wheels whose design could easily impale a driver in a crash, poor exhaust systems, and the unnecessary pollution produced by badly engineered cars.

Ironically, the driving public, whose outrage Nader had hoped to ignite with his detailed assault on Detroit, took little notice of the book until GM began to act to mitigate the potentially damaging consequences of the work. Apparently worried about Nader’s influence in Washington, D.C., and on the public, the company hired private investigators to look into Nader’s financial and private life in hopes of smearing his thitherto spotless reputation. Nader discovered the investigation and publicly denounced GM’s tactics, alleging that the “investigators” had even hired several young women to lure him (unsuccessfully) into sexual liaisons. Nader sued GM for harassment, and GM settled the court case for $425,000.

The first comprehensive automobile safety legislation in United States history was passed in 1966 with the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the Highway Safety Act. A range of standard safety features for automobiles followed, including padded steering wheels, shoulder belts, safety glass, rear “back-up” lights, and emergency flashers. The 1966 laws also established an agency to regulate the automobile industry and protect consumers that eventually became the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Nader went on to become the most recognizable and influential champion of the consumer advocacy movement. In 1968 he founded the Center for Study of Responsive Law, and its staff quickly became known as “Nader’s Raiders” as they focused their investigations on issues relating to consumer safety and health. He used the settlement money from GM to fund his investigative work. Nader also founded other consumer rights groups, including the Public Interest Research Group, the Center for Auto Safety, the Clean Water Action Project, and many others. Although the influence of those consumer advocacy groups waned somewhat after the 1980s, the impact Nader and Unsafe at Any Speed had in establishing standards for consumer safety is undeniable.